In the end I didn't bother to lasso Styelzeitgeist, as it's a 90/10 or 80/10/10 deal where they would want to consider themselves strictly Mode, but have tendencies towards street 'money/clothes' concept and there's the Hollywood celeb factor that they say they ignore, but is not ignorable, and frankly that idea centers more in the top right box.

Anyway, so to give you an idea of what this graph represents, it's all Japanese fashion magazines. As most may know, Japanese fashion magazines are very specific and centered around common aesthetics, age and socioeconomic statuses, etc. This idea of partitioning and cordoning is actually very effective and logical, and manifests itself pretty reliably, even outside of Japan like America where style is mostly confused and not identifiable. It's to the point where we can consider these boxes to be 'zoku' (families/tribes) and you can be part of a certain magazine's 'zoku' - like Free and Easy-zoku, etc.Counter-clockwise from top left:

The box that includes Lightning, Free and Easy is 'Ame-oya-kei' = American oyaji look = Americana for old guys. Denim, heritage, repro. Superdenim.

below that in blue-grey with Samurai, Cool Trans, Street Jack = 'Street-kei' = streetwear. From Dunks to Kiks Tyo, used to include Visvim but it migrated a bit.

green box = 'Kireii-kei' = pretty boy stuff. Not necessarily gay, but not masculine, more cute. This is probably more suited to very young guys, high school age. Not really relevant to most discussion within the English-language fashion internet world.

purple center box = 'Onii-kei' = 'Big brother style' - Shibuya gal-o kei (the male counterpart to the Shibuya gyaru) - a sub-demographic of the Shibuya-kei (popular from about 1993 to 1996) style that many my identify with the tanned 'kogal' look - this is the male counterpart to them, and big brother in a fantasy sense that the guys are older than the girls (who were thought to be young) - this is 109 and Men's 109, the hairstyles and the clothes - within this realm also exists the Host (bar) look, male prostitution or pimping/scouting type subcultures that have been around the gyaru/gyaru-oh forever, the whole onii-kei look is generally marginalized as 'cheap' because well, the clothes are cheap (in relation to other 'serious' fashion lifestyles), and the lifestyle has some connotations of the sex industry, driven by the idea of turning to the sex industry rather than taking up a normal job, alternative lifestyles from 1990's Japan, yada yada. This is mostly in the past and not a relevant aesthetic in Japan, and not what it is in Shibuya nowadays like it used to be 15-20 years ago.

Pink box - Salon-kei = Hair salon stylist magazines. Not really relevant to the English language internet again, because nobody really cares about hair! haha. Anyway, these are fashion magazines, and not exclusively about hair, but they are focused around the idea that Ura-Harajuku/Aoyama/Omotesando hair stylists are creative/stylish types and therefore the focus of these magazines is to show off their own culture, the guys with cool hair and clothes and stylist's waist bags, etc. Naturally, not everybody in Japan lives near Harajuku and so it's a moveable piece of Japanese youth culture for the rest.

Grey box- 'Men's Non-kei' = Men's Non-no, ie young, mid-priced fashion. Occasionally featuring fast fashion, some elements of Mode, but stylized in a Japanese young menswear style. Obviously a huge category worthy of it's own box, and by far and large, the most important for this particular age group.

The N/W/S/E compass points on the edges of this matrix are qualities:North = unchiku - knowledge - for the data/trivia obsessedWest = for the hobby of 'clothes' - i.e. to define 'Fashion, vs Style'South = for aesthetic and stylistic interests - i.e. define 'Style, vs Fashion'East = for 'Lifestyle'

Naturally, the intermediary areas are a mix, so Men's Ex - styleforum MC - naturally, it lies between the area between 'clothes' and 'trivia'

So interesting points to focus on here, just from the descriptions --you notice that Superfuture and Styleforum encompass many of these aesthetics, but at the same time, superfuture has 'superdenim' that is strictly Ameoya-kei, and styleforum has it's own counterpart in 'Itaoya-kei' with the MC forum. Both are strong, and completely different.- 'Onii-kei' - which many fromthe outside might view as 'dress up' or costume-y, or based on fantasy and imagination - that box skews towards the unlikely direction (though not colliding) where Amekaji and Streetwear are floating, because you have to realize that Amekaji and Streetwear in Japan are also dress-up and costume-y in a similar sense. They are niche looks, subcultures ranging from hobbyists (Americana) to almost full-on lifestyle prescriptions (Onii-kei) - and naturally, you can see where Streetwear falls between that, as Streetwear tends to prescribe a certain set of interests on it's own (perhaps skating and certain kinds of music), but is more livable within normal society than the Shibuya-kei lifestyles.

I've added and boxed in where I think Styleforum, Superfuture, TOJ, and Uncontrol exist on the matrix. The groupings of magazines and 'kei's are fairly accurate, whereas the size of the boxes are not intended to represent anything... and therefore the representation of overlap is not intended to show anything proportional, just the fact, mainly.Superfuture and Styleforum, as non-Japanese sites operated in the English language, they avoid Onii-kei, and I've shown that in the matrix as well by cookie-cutting them out of the main lasso'd areas.

Anyway, tons of info on this graph, have a look at it and see where you are.

King, could you edit in the one with the english translations instead? It came a few pages later.

I'm actually going to continue a post I wanted to make in the ToJ thread, but that wasn't really the place for it. People were talking about Balenciaga and why you don't see it much on here.

Most of that of course is availability, and also the fact that it's a very small collection. The actual boutique has more models of sneakers than items of clothes available.

This is all my opinion, but the best way to wear Balenciaga requires someone that is typically very.. well.. "put together". Like picture the model from the Egg Bomber. That guy is the perfect guy to wear it. Dark, slick hair, dark eyes. It's clothing that requires a lot of upkeep if that makes any sense. Everything looks best when pressed and structured and well maintained. But it does look super sharp, and the use of technical fabrics is done so well in such a non-technical yet sporty way.

It's like the antithesis to the cool, casual Margiela that you just lounge around in and leave unbuttoned here or there.

It's for the guys that know how to wear navy with black, in fact I think it's the perfect brand for that kind of mindset. Pairs well with lots of Raf and Jil of course. Just keeping those clean lines but not necessarily in a minimalist way.

Most SW&D posters are pretty casual, which doesn't really lend itself well to this. Platypus is the poster I can see best wearing it, but really his austere look is pretty perfect on it's own without incorporating the "sporty" elements that Balenciaga would bring to it. Yes dlester wears Balenciaga really well for sure, and in a more casual way that goes against everything I just said. Damnit dles.

I don't really disagree with that, but (and I was the one who made that original post) a lot of it is also easy to wear with the uniqlo pressed pants + oxford that a lot of guys here go for. It actually maybe wasn't the example of brands that are easier to do that get ignored in SF (compared to Rick which looks terrible on a lot of people), but something like this:

Works really well with, like, +J. I actually didn't know their men's was so small compared to the women's, though.

I don't really disagree with that, but (and I was the one who made that original post) a lot of it is also easy to wear with the uniqlo pressed pants + oxford that a lot of guys here go for. It actually maybe wasn't the example of brands that are easier to do that get ignored in SF (compared to Rick which looks terrible on a lot of people), but something like this:Warning: Spoiler!(Click to show)

Works really well with, like, +J. I actually didn't know their men's was so small compared to the women's, though.

Yeah it could work well with +J for sure, but I wouldn't want to see it worn with an oxford. Shirting has to be something nice and crisp like a good broadcloth, you know?Edited by tween_spirit - 3/29/12 at 11:25am

^ Tween post is spot on and pretty much how I see it too, there's a reason 99% of the Balenciaga items on here are sneakers or jeans.

* * * Also, I heartily approve of this thread. * * *

Is this where we post about women's fashion too now ? To be honest, I'd intially hoped the [SOON] thread would have more fashion oriented content and be the place to post about stuff that didn't fall under the menswear umbrella per se (like women collections and editorials etc) but it looks like it took another direction...

This thread is a very necessary addition to the site for sure. Make it way easier to learn about various fashion designers and houses for me as I generally skew heavily towards the older Japanese end of the spectrum.

With that said -

Issey Miyake at FIT:

I don't see a lot of Issey Miyake talk on the forum actually and I am quite fascinated by a lot of his older shapes pre-pleating, the clothes in motion looked amazing. I really like the way the models moved in that video as well, like dancers.